Items in order will be sent as soon as they arrive in the warehouse. He is currently working on his next book, a sequel to The Auguste entitled Pilgrim. His influences for The Auguste are many, most prominently Kafka's Metamorphosis.īlackburn's previous published books are Between Septembers, Lamentations of a Young Pig, Changes in a Landscape, Feathers for Laura, and Grandma's Garden. Keith Blackburn grew up in Wakefield, Yorkshire, England, where he still resides, working as a full-time self-employed artist. This fascinating work manages to portray an absurd world where the way out is not what it would appear to be. The Auguste is a rich and intricate novel that offers a poetic and entertaining tapestry. Despite his best efforts, however, he becomes waylaid at every turn by a cast of wonderfully grotesque characters and a series of surrealistic episodes beyond his control. Surprisingly unperturbed by this, he attempts to make it to his office, or to a doctor's, determined to find a way out of the bad dream. This archetype is what Algy has become, the ragged little hobo who gets the pie in his face. The dictionary definition of an Auguste is a circus clown. In fact, not only has his appearance changed, but so have his surroundings and all the people he knows. One October morning in 1932, Algy, a 22-year old junior clerk at Gurney and Barman's wool mill, awakes to find himself transformed into a frail old clown. For Algy Tuckett, his hair is the least of his problems.

The Auguste by Keith Blackburn